independent of long-continued practice, the doctrine, that the States, not being at liberty to coin money, can authorize the circulation of bank paper, as currency, at all. His reasoning deserves. grave consideration, and is to the following effect: The States cannot coin money. Can they, then, coin that which becomes the actual and almost universal substitute for money? Is not the right of issuing paper, intended for circulation in the place and as the representative of metallic currency, derived merely from the power of coining and regulating the metallic currency? Could Congress, if it did not possess the power of coining money and regulating the value of foreign coins, create a bank with the power to circulate bills? It would be difficult to make it out. Where, then, do the States, to whom all control over the metallic currency is altogether prohibited, obtain this power? It is true that, in other countries, private bankers, having no legal authority over the coin, issue notes for circulation. But this they do always with the consent of government, express or implied; and government restrains and regulates all their operations at its pleasure. It would be a startling proposition in any other part of the world, that the prerogative of coining money, held by government, was liable to be defeated, counteracted, or impeded by another prerogative, held in other hands, of authorizing a paper circulation. It is further to be observed, that the States cannot issue bills of credit; not that they cannot make them a legal tender, but that they cannot issue them at all. This is a clear indication of the intent of the Constitution to restrain the States as well from establishing a paper circulation as from interfering with the metallic circulation. Banks have been created by States with no capital whatever, their notes being put in circulation simply on the credit of the State. What are the issues of such banks but bills of credit issued by the State? 1 § 1121. Whatever may be the force of this reasoning, it is probably too late to correct the error, if error there be, in the assumption of this power by the States, since it has an inveterate practice in its favor through a very long period, and indeed ever since the adoption of the Constitution. § 1122. The other power, " to fix the standard of weights and 1 This opinion is not peculiar to Mr. Webster. It was maintained by the late Hon. Samuel Dexter, one of the ablest statesmen and lawyers who have adorned the annals of our country. [But see Briscoe v. Bank of Kentucky, 11 Pet. 257] 3 measures,” was, doubtless, given from like motives of public policy, for the sake of uniformity, and the convenience of commerce.1 Hitherto, however, it has remained a dormant power, from the many difficulties attendant upon the subject, although it has been repeatedly brought to the attention of Congress in most elaborate reports.2 Until Congress shall fix a standard, the understanding seems to be, that the States possess the power to fix their own weights and measures; or, at least, the existing standards at the adoption of the Constitution remain in full force. Under the confederation, Congress possessed the like exclusive power. In England, the power to regulate weights and measures is said by Mr Justice Blackstone to belong to the royal prerogative.5 But it has been remarked by a learned commentator on his work, that the power cannot, with propriety, be referred to the king's prerogative; for, from Magna Charta to the present time, there are above twenty acts of Parliament to fix and establish the standard and uniformity of weights and measures." § 1123. The next power of Congress is "to provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States." This power would naturally flow, as an incident, from the antecedent powers to borrow money, and regulate the coinage; and, indeed, without it those powers would be without any adequate sanction. This power would seem to be exclusive of that of the States, since it grows out of the Constitution, as an appropriate means to carry into effect other delegated powers not antecedently existing in the States.7 1 The Federalist, No. 42. 2 Among these none are more elaborate and exact than that of Mr. Jefferson and Mr. J. Q. Adams, while they were respectively at the head of the department of State. 3 Rawle on the Constitution, ch. 9, p. 102. 4 Art. 9. 6 1 Black. Comm. 276, Christian's note (16). 5 1 Black. Comm. 276. 7 See Rawle on Constitution, ch. 9, p. 103; The Federalist, No. 42. [See Mattison v. State, 3 Mo. 421. In the case of Fox v. The State of Ohio, 5 How. 433, it was decided that the States had power to pass laws to punish the passing of counterfeit money, and some of the language of the court is perhaps inconsistent with what is stated in the text. See also United States v. Marigold, 9 How. 560; Moore v. People, 14 How. 13. Under its power to provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States, Congress may pass laws to punish the bringing of counterfeit coin in the similitude of coins of the United States into the country, and the passing and uttering of the same. United States v. Marigold, 9 How. 560.] CHAPTER XVIII. POWER TO ESTABLISH POST-OFFICES AND POST-ROADS. § 1124. THE next power of Congress is, "to establish postoffices and post-roads." The nature and extent of this power, both theoretically and practically, are of great importance, and have given rise to much ardent controversy. It deserves, therefore, a deliberate examination. It was passed over by The Federalist with a single remark, as a power not likely to be disputed in its exercise, or to be deemed dangerous by its scope. The "power," says The Federalist, "of establishing post-roads must, in every view, be a harmless power; and may, perhaps, by judicious management, become productive of great public conveniency. Nothing which tends to facilitate the intercourse between the States can be deemed unworthy of the public care.” 1 One cannot but feel, at the present time, an inclination to smile at the guarded caution of these expressions, and the hesitating avowal of the importance of the power. It affords, perhaps, one of the most striking proofs, how much the growth and prosperity of the country have outstripped the most sanguine anticipations of our most enlightened patriots. § 1125. The post-office establishment has already become one. of the most beneficent and useful establishments under the national government.2 It circulates intelligence of a commercial, political, intellectual, and private nature, with incredible speed and regularity. It thus administers in a very high degree to the comfort, the interests, and the necessities of persons in every rank and station of life. It brings the most distant places and persons, as it were, in contact with each other; and thus softens the anxieties, increases the enjoyments, and cheers the solitude of millions of hearts. It imparts a new influence and impulse to private intercourse; and, by a wider diffusion of knowledge, enables political rights and duties to be performed with more uniformity 1 The Federalist, No. 42. 2 1 Tuck. Black. Comm. App. 265; Rawle on the Const. ch. 9, p. 103. and sound judgment. It is not less effective, as an instrument of the government in its own operations. In peace it enables it without ostentation or expense to send its orders, and direct its measures for the public good, and transfer its funds, and apply its powers, with a facility and promptitude which, compared with the tardy operations and imbecile expedients of former times, seem like the wonders of magic. In war it is, if possible, still more important and useful, communicating intelligence vital to the movements of armies and navies, and the operations and duties of warfare, with a rapidity which, if it does not always insure victory, at least in many instances, guards against defeat and ruin. Thus, its influences have become, in a public as well as private view, of incalculable value to the permanent interests of the Union. It is obvious at a moment's glance at the subject, that the establishment in the hands of the States would have been wholly inadequate to these objects; and the impracticability of a uniformity of system would have introduced infinite delays and inconveniences; and burdened the mails with an endless variety of vexatious taxations and regulations. No one accustomed to the retardations of the post in passing through independent States on the continent. of Europe, can fail to appreciate the benefits of a power which pervades the Union. The national government is that alone which can safely or effectually execute it, with equal promptitude and cheapness, certainty and uniformity. Already the post-office establishment realizes a revenue exceeding two millions of dollars, from which it defrays all its own expenses, and transmits mails in various directions over more than one hundred and twenty thousand miles. It transmits intelligence in one day to distant places, which, when the Constitution was first put into operation, was scarcely transmitted through the same distance in the course. of a week.1 The rapidity of its movements has been in a general 1 In the American Almanac and Repository published at Boston in 1830 (a very valuable publication), there is, at page 217, a tabular view of the number of post-offices, and amounts of postage, and net revenue and extent of roads in miles travelled by the mail for a large number of years between 1790 and 1828. In 1790 there were seventyfive post-offices, and the amount of postage was $37,935, and the number of miles travelled was 1,875. In 1828 there were 7,530 post-offices, and the amount of postage was $1,659,915, and the number of miles travelled was 115,176. See also American Almanac for 1832, p. 134. And from Dr. Lieber's Encyclopædia Americana (article Posts), it appears that, in 1831, the amount of postage was $1,997,811, and the number of miles travelled 15,468,692. The first post-office ever established in America seems view doubled within the last twenty years. There are now more than eight thousand five hundred post-offices in the United States; and at every session of the legislature new routes are constantly provided for, and new post-offices established. It may, therefore, well be deemed a most beneficent power, whose operations can scarcely be applied, except for good, accomplishing in an eminent degree some of the high purposes set forth in the preamble of the Constitution, forming a more perfect Union, providing for the common defence, and promoting the general welfare. § 1126. Under the confederation (art. 9), Congress was invested with the sole and exclusive power of "establishing and regulating post-offices from one State to another throughout the United States, and exacting such postage on the papers passing through the same as may be requisite to defray the expenses of the said office."1 How little was accomplished under it will be at once apparent from the fact, that there were but seventy-five post-offices established in all the United States in the year 1789; that the whole amount of postage in 1790 was only $37,935; and the number of miles travelled by the mails only 1,875.2 This may be in part attributable to the state of the country, and the depression of all the commercial and other interests of the country. But the power itself was so crippled by the confederation, that it could accomplish little. The national government did not possess any power, except to establish post-offices from State to State (leaving perhaps, though not intended, the whole interior postto have been under an act of Parliament, in 1710. Dr. Lieber's Encyc. Amer., article Posts. In Mr. Professor Malkin's Introductory Lecture on History, before the London University, in March, 1830, he states (p. 14), "It is understood that in England the first mode adopted for a proper and regular conveyance of letters was in 1642, weekly, and on horseback, to every part of the kingdom. The present improved system by mail-coaches was not introduced until 1782." [The postal service, when this work was published, though the author justly regarded it as large and beneficent, appears in comparison with that of the present day insignificant. In 1872, the length of railroad mail routes alone was 57,961 miles, and had increased 8,000 within the year.] 1 There is, in Bioren and Duane's Edition of the Laws of the United States (vol. 1, p. 649, &c.), an account of the post-office establishment, during the Revolution and before the Constitution was adopted. Dr. Franklin was appointed, in July, 1775, the first postmaster-general. The act of 1782 directed that a mail should be carried at least once in every week to and from each stated post-office. 2 American Almanac, 1830, p. 217; Dr. Lieber's Encyc. Amer., article Posts; ante, vol. iii. p. 24, note. [See article Post in New American Cyclopædia.] |